Comprehensive Guide to AD Ezreal

Ezreal Build

Table of Contents

Introduction

With the nerfing of Ezreal's support abilities and AP ratios, AD focused builds are becoming more mainstream. This guide aims on maximizing Ezreal's potential as a damage dealer/carry through an Attack Damage build, and also helps you to become a better player through various tips and strategies in gameplay.

Ezreal is a pure skill shot hero, meaning all his skills rely on user aim. He is a very mobile champion that has high damage potential with an AD build.

AD Ezreal differs from traditional pure carry/DPS champions (Ashe, Tristana, Twitch, Warwick, etc.) in a few ways:
(1) Ezreal lacks any kind of natural CC.
(2) Most of Ezreal's damage comes from his Mystic Shot spell, besides auto attacks.
(3) His damage output is reliant on the player's accuracy with Mystic Shot as well as having a clear path to the target. Which means his damage output can vary greatly depending on the situation, such as in messy team fights where he is unable to focus fire. However, given ideal circumstances, AD Ezreal has among the highest raw DPS output coupled with the ability to kite effectively.

I can personally attest to the effectiveness of this AD Ezreal build through personal experience and watching others. You can check out my profile in game or at http://www.lolbase.net/us/Tegea

Version History

7/10/10: More revamping of item build. Major changes this time after experimenting with different builds to achieve maximum damage potential. Generalized the build section to allow for more personal flexibility and options.

Abilities

Excellent passive that meshes extremely well with AD Ezreal. You can basically get up to +75% attack speed (the equivalent value of approximately 2000 gold) at any time, which is incredible for a passive! The passive stack is incremented and the timer renewed every time you hit anything with any of Ezreal's skills, ensuring ease in maintaining stacks of it.

The foundation and core of AD Ezreal because of how good it is. As such, beefing up Mystic Shot is key to being successful. Doubtful? Then let's analyze why it's so good:

-At max level with max cooldown, this skill has a cooldown of approximatly 1.4 seconds if you hit something!
-Its damage is incredibly potent, starting at approximatly 100 damage at level 1 and up to around 600 damage mid to late game.
-It has around 1200 range, meaning it out-ranges all other non-skill shot single target spells in the game! And its projectile speed is very fast, as well
-Its extremely low mana cost allows you to spam it indefinitely all game long
-It procs on-hit effects like sheen, life-steal and slows, but not crits.
-As if that's not enough, this spell also reduces the cooldown of all 4 of Ezreal's skills (including Mystic Shot) by 1 second every time you hit something

What does all this mean? It means using a single spell AD Ezreal is capable of spamming 600 damage per shot every 1.4 seconds with 1200 range! Extremely effective for sniping targets during tower sieges or before team fights begin.

Before, it was an overpowered aoe heal + aoe damage + aoe attack speed buff on teammates + aoe attack speed de-buff on enemies all packed into a single spell with relatively low cooldown. But now its just a shadow of its past with everything heavily nerfed except for its aoe damage component. In other words, this spell is no longer as good as it used to be, and should therefore be neglected on AD Ezreal.

A blink (600 range) with an added damage component that strikes the nearest target within 700 range of your landing point (which means this spell has a strike range of 1300!)

This is Ezreal's survival and semi-initiation spell. With it you can blink out of reach of the enemy's spellcasters in team fights or hop over walls to escape a chase. For initiation purposes, this spell allows you to get in range to dish out some damage. Its cooldown is reduced by 2 seconds for every level, which is very useful.

Keep in mind that blinking while a homing projectile is heading towards you will not prevent the damage, unlike flash.

Ezreal fires bolt with global range that damages anything it passes through. Excellent ultimate with many many uses. Never be afraid to use your ultimate unless a team fight is imminent. The cooldown is low and is further reduced every time you use mystic shot. As such, you should be spamming mystic shot on anything you can hit whenever your ultimate is on cooldown.

Uses are listed further below.

Pros / Cons

What are the advantages of playing Ezreal, and more specifically an AD build?

Pros:

High damage output and sustainability
Very good at kiting
Excellent harassing abilities
Combos deal quick burst damage
Has an escape skill that works even when snared
Strong passive is utilized
Good farming capabilities
Not item dependent

Masteries + Runes

Why 7 in defense? This grants you the hp regeneration mastery Strength of Spirit (0.3% of max mana as additional hp regeneration) for the laning phase and a bit of some much needed magic resist. How much hp regen do you actually get from Strength of Spirit? Well, At level 1 with a sapphire crystal, you'll gain an additional 7.2 hp / 5 seconds of regeneration. That's almost as much as the regeneration on a Doran's Shield

The hp regeneration ensures that you'll be able to stay in lane until you can farm up your first item and boots. Having to blue pill back before then will hurt your farming and leveling and most likely put you behind your lane opponent(s).

Keep in mind that the lack of mana regeneration in this mastery build means that you'll either need mana regeneration runes or (not recommended) mana regeneration items.

The mana regeneration runes should be used if you don't have mana regeneration from masteries. No matter how you choose to get mana regeneration, however, you should never get any mana regeneration items in game! Those items just deviate gold from your core build and don't add to your damage!

If you get mana regeneration for both yellow and blue runes, you won't have to worry about mana for the whole game! But it comes at the trade-off of not having dodge seals and cooldown glyphs.

Summoner Abilities

Summoner abilities vary and depend on the user's choice

Recommended:

Flash
- Flash + Arcane Shift means you can hit something up to 1700 units away! Also, you can use it to escape if your Arcane Shift is on cooldown. Ghost
- Boost in movement speed is always useful. Blink away and pop Ghost to escape before they catch up and stun you, for example. Or use it to chase down a fleeing hero or to quickly get to a location to help out. Cleanse
- Cleanse on a carry is a definite must against teams with a lot of CC. Taking a single stun + focus fire will basically ensure your death. Which is why having cleanse is useful.

*You should always have at least one of the above listed summoner spells. These spells are just at the top in terms of usefulness and effectiveness both offensively and defensively.

Viable:

Ignite
- Excellent spell to top off your Arcane Shift+ Mystic Shot+ Auto Attack + Trueshot Barrage combo or to ignite the lifestealing carry in team fights. Can also finish off running champions, as always. Clairvoyance
- Having map control is always a good thing. Use it to check the golem buff, baron, etc. Use it to check brush and mia calls. However, a support champion is more suited to having clairvoyance than Ezreal. Exhaust
- Good for holding them down unless they have Cleanse

*Exhaust + Ignite is a common summoner spell combo that can really hurt. But keep in mind that a single cleanse can completely eliminate its effectiveness, which is why I don't recommend it.

Other:

Teleport
- Generally, Teleport is useful in getting back to lane without downtime, to stop a push/guard a tower quickly, or to take down an unguarded tower. With Ezreal, he should not be blue pilling enough to make Teleport worth it. He also has an ultimate that can take down creep waves from across the map, making Teleport unnecessary.
[Spell=Rally]
- Again a slight possibility, but more suited for other champions to have. Heal
- Heal is considered a weak spell. Usually when you're at low health you're probably running away. And heal won't help you when they stun or slow you. Only cleanse will. However, an unexpected aoe heal during a team fight or brawl could change things.

Items

AD Ezreal relies heavily on his Mystic Shot. This means that landing your shots is very important. You should never be missing shots, because that cuts your damage output by a lot.

In general, you want to build up your attack damage, not attack speed. As Ezreal, you are not going to sit there auto-attacking opponents -- you will be constantly on the move, firing your Mystic Shot and kiting them or chasing them. So attack speed is of little use while attack damage is of paramount importance.

Item Build:

The build section is generalized to accommodate a variety of player skill levels. The below item builds are based on my own personal preferences and opinions. You are by no means required to follow the exact build to achieve success. Different builds may accommodate different play styles.

The item builds are intended to help the player create a balanced and competent Ezreal. As such, I do not promote the use of risk items (sword of the occult), which are very situational.

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Core:

There are several different possible core builds. The builds vary in difficulty

Trinity Force is a great item, as it adds a nice additional 130% base damage to your Mystic Shot as well as a lot of other stats. In fact, Trinity Force adds the greatest possible amount of damage to Mystic Shot from a single item! (around +150 damage at level 18)

Boots are solely dependent on the situation in determining which ones to get. However, always consider defensive boots over more non-combat or offensive ones. If the other team is magic damage-heavy, get Mercury's Treads. If they have a lot of physical damage, get Ninja Tabi. If you don't need either of them, you could choose to get the other boots if you want, or save money towards getting more damage items quickly.

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Vs. Armor Stackers
If three or more opponents are stacking armor (100+ armor in definition), get Last Whisper. Otherwise get it later. Now that flat armor penetration applies before percent based, Last Whisper is not as effective as it used to be.

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Vs. Crowd Control spells
If the opposing team is CC heavy (multiple stuns/slows) and you're eating a lot of it, get Banshee's Veil and upgrade your boots to Mercury's Treads

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Also, by mid to late game you should be engaging team fights with an Elixir of Fortitude at all times! The buff adds to your survivability and damage. Get used to having one in stock and popping it before you fire your first shot. The cost is worth the benefit it gives, especially since Ezreal does not require tons of gold for items!

Skilling Order

Unique Skills

-Use it to last hit creeps. If you misjudge your attempted last hit and the minion will die before you can attack again, use Mystic Shot to finish off the minion
-Use it to last hit creeps from a distance if you're being harassed or threatened by opposing laners
-Use it to harass enemy champions. It hurts a lot if you land a hit.
-Fire into brush to determine if enemies are there. You will hear a sound if it hits, and your cooldowns will be reduced
-Spam whenever your ultimate is on cooldown.

-Use it to jump over walls both offensively and defensively. Make sure you're standing right next to the wall or you'll fail to jump.
-You can use it to quickly reposition yourself to get a better firing angle on your Trueshot Barrage and Mystic Shot.
-Use it to assist your kiting abilities. Spamming Mystic Shot while keeping your distance is very effective.
-Unlike jump skills (Tristana's Rocket Jump, Jax's Leap Strike, etc.) Ezreal's Arcane Shift is a blink, meaning you can use it even when snared by Ryze's Rune Prison, Morgana's Dark Binding, etc.
-Arcane Shift's attack range in a straight line is a little bit more than Mystic Shot's firing range.

-Always use it at the start of teamfights to ensure that you have a max stacked passive when the fight begins (+75% bonus attack speed!!!)
-Use it to clear creep waves in lanes being pushed
-With good aim and a bit of luck, you can snipe enemy champions with low health after lane brawls early game.
-You can even use it in base to gain that little extra bit of gold you sometimes are just missing to buy your next item without having to go out.
-Snipe baron if you have vision and good timing. With its high base damage, the chance of stealing baron is actually possible if you can time it right.
-Combine it with an Arcane Shift+ Mystic Shot+ Auto Attack combo to dish out some serious damage early game (more below)

Working in the team

As a ranged carry/damage dealer, Ezreal is a viable candidate for mid lane. His mystic shot ensures that he can still farm with relative ease regardless of enemy harassment. However, that does not mean he should always take mid.

In determining whether you should go mid, consider your team's champions.Higher Priority
-Champions that can make use of a faster global ultimate (Twisted Fate, Karthus, etc.)Similar Priority
-Champions that can utilize the leveling advantage over side lanes to bolster their ganking abilities (Nidalee, Annie, Katarina, Tristana, etc.)
-Champions that can quickly push down the mid tower (Sivir, Mordekaiser)

Higher priority champions should take mid over Ezreal. As for similar priority champions, this is where user skill, team composition, and the opposing mid champion comes into play in determining who should take mid.

If you are going to dual lane, try to take the bottom lane so that you can ward dragon and the path to blue golem. Since Ezreal is not item dependent, he is a good choice for buying wards for the team.

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An effective strategy with Ezreal comes in the form of his skill combos: Arcane Shift+ Mystic Shot+ Auto Attack is a standard harrassing combo effective when there are no opposing creeps around to interfere.

Arcane Shift+ Mystic Shot+ Auto Attack + Trueshot Barrage is a heavy damage combo that can hit suddenly and hard. When laning, this combo can easily take out an unsuspecting opposing champion if they are at half health or less.

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Ezreal is extremely good at kiting, especially with his long range Mystic Shot. You should utilize his ranged advantage to its full extent by keeping your distance whenever possible. A well played Ezreal rarely dies a lot because he is hard to catch and kill.

AD Ezreal functions as a damage dealer in teamfights. However, you should not immediately engage until after your tank/initiator and fighters do.

Engage the fight without using arcane shift if possible. Instead, save it so that you can blink into a high priority target's face and DPS him to death. Or use it to escape if the fight isn't going your way. Arcane shift has a long enough cooldown that makes it unlikely that you can blink out in time if you blink in and get focused down.